Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Tapping with a Procunier Device

Eric Mack wrote:

> There have been several discussions on tapping. I wanted to share a
> recent success. The person who sold me my milling machine told me
> about an automatic tapping device made by Procunier. This device
> mounts in the drill press and automatically taps (forward/reverse) by
> using the Z Axis of the drill press.
>
> I bought a unit and some taps. Today, I made holes and tapped them.
> It was easy and they all came out successful.
>
> The device is not cheap but well worth it. Keep you eyes open on
> eBay for a unit. It may be a useful tool.

I have a Procunier 15000 CNC tapping head. It requires the CNC
machine to follow the lead of the tap by roughly matching the rotation
of the spindle with the forward feed of the Z axis. I don't have a spindle
encoder or closed-loop spindle speed control, but it works fine
for me. It reverses the rotation of the tap at 2x speed when the spindle
starts to reverse. The depth is controlled by the amount the Z axis
feeds into the work. I have used it to do hundreds of holes in aluminum
of the 6-32 and 10-32 size, with great results.

Forget using this on a Sherline, it is a rather large device.

Jon